Monday, June 11, 2007

What's In A (Nick)Name?

This may come as a shock to many of you, but 'WonderBaby' is not WonderBaby's real name.

It's not even her nickname. Contrary to what you might expect, we do not run around the parks and playgroups of Toronto calling out WonderBaby! 'WonderBaby' is, like 'Her Bad Mother' (pick yourself back up off the floor!), a pseudonymic nickname (a pseudo-nick-nym?).

Her real nickname is - wait for it - Budge. As in, budgerigar. The bird. Don't ask me how or why this nickname stuck. There's nothing bird-like about Wonderbaby. Nothing at all. And yet, we call her Budge, or Budgie, or Budgerigar. More usually Budge. It's not the most elegant of nicknames, but for some reason, it's her.

Her Bad Father and I both call her this, as name and as proper descriptive noun. We say things to each other like, oh, the Budge. She's such a Budge. Or, Budgie was so Budge today. Or, is she being a Budge? Such a Budge!

It has emerged, it seems, out of the babble of our love for her. Scrolling through the archives of my memory - and of this blog - I can note that sometime last year I was calling her Baboo and Bapchi, nicknames that are really gibberish, gobbledygook, nonsense. Words that mean nothing, but which are nonetheless utterances of affection, expressions of love in our own private language. Somehow, from Babchi came Budgie and Budgerigar and the name has stuck, perfect in its expression of the inexpressible essence of who she is, to us. Incomprehensible to anyone other than us.

No doubt absurd, to you. But I suspect that however absurd the name 'Budge' sounds to you, the idea of an inexpressibly nonsensical but nonetheless perfect name is something you know well. I suspect that you have such names for your children. I'm not going to ask you what those are.

I've told you our special name because its specialness is exclusive to our use of it. It is nonsensical, on the tongue of anyone other than us. It has no power, no meaning outside of our little world. For us, this silly, gibberishy word is full of meaning, inexpressible meaning, meaning that melts into air outside of the circle that is us. Meaning that is ours, and hers, alone. So you can know it, because having others know it doesn't diminish its power. Its power belongs to us.

You can tell me yours, if you want. I'd love to hear your special names. But you don't have to, if you don't want to; you could just tell me how it came about, what it means to you. I'd love to hear about it.

Portrait of a Budge.

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I was tagged by Jeremiah at ZRecommends to write a post about names; I decided to write about nicknames. Consider yourselves all tagged, too - respond on your blog or in the comments. As I said above, I'd love to hear about your nicknames - even just the stories behind them.

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Hey! Have I harassed you lately about writing a post about how - or whether - blogging empowers women? Yes? Well here's the harassment again - sometime before midnight this coming Friday, write a post about blogging and the empowerment of women and link to MBT. Not only will you feel really, really good about yourself, you'll be eligible to win a two-day registration to BlogHer. Or candy. Your pick. And your post will be linked up here, and at MBT, and at BlogRhet, where the brightest minds in the blogosphere will immediately set about deconstructing it and identifying its greater meaning. An offer you can't refuse, no?And, in other corners of Her Bad World: talkin' 'bout blueberries and BBQs here, and singing the praises of local bloggers here. And, always, gossipin' here.

We call our oldest "Pants." It started out from some obscure episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a show we don't even watch. A character was named "M.C. Pee Pants." For us, this turned into "Fart Pants," and eventually "Pants."

I can't tell you what that word means to me now. How random. But my heart is tied up in it.

Our daughter is "Bunny" or "Bunny Rabbit" or "Rabbit." I called her a million different nicknames, and those were the ones that my husband least objected to. Now she's just "Bunny" or "Bun". Once in a while, my hubby will email me at work to let me know he's picking up "The Rabbit" from school.

My father and I have the same nickname for each other: Wiener. From the time I was 5 or 6 I've called him Wiener. On the phone, in public, he is more likely to be called Wiener than Dad. And he calls me Wiener as well. It just works. So much so that I wonder about the funny looks we get sometimes. :)

As for this male child festering within, I have no doubt he will have his own nickname in time.

Our nicknames have evolved. Hollis was Little Man and he really was a Little Man. He looked like an infant CPA before the age of 1. Now he's more often buddyboo. Or if he's being ornery, buddybooboo. I don't know why.

Holden, being a second child, has the nickname cast offs. He's usually grumpypoo, even though he's not usually grumpy.

Ben (Benjamin) was Farmajin.Jack is still Jack Attack or Jackson (the latter being a joke between me and the hubs, because we did not want to name him Jackson, but we got shit for naming him "just Jack").

Bee was Bee in utero. Now she's something else entirely, but I'm afraid that babe #2 is already cast in her older sister's shadow - we've been refering to her as Soon to Bee. No doubt this one, like her sister, will have a silly, special nickname once we get to know her.

I just emerged from my introspective world the other day and happened across your blog. Loved the post about the "Great H&M Escape!" Came back for more...

Now that the blatant flattery is out of the way, on to nicknames. We have so many, but what stands out most for me is that all three have been called "Choops" at some point (and often still are). I will also accept "Choopy-Choo," "Choopers," and the shortened, "Choo." I really can't remember the origin, so it must have been insignificant. Yet the nickname persists.

I really do call mine Monkey and Chickadee. Monkey is also occasionally Smushkin (as in, so cute and smushy), whereas for Chickadee there are a number of singsongy plays on her actual name I sometimes use. Most often, though, it's MonkeyBoy and Chickadee or Chiquita (which is unrelated but sounds similar).

My son use to be the "bean" in utero because that is what he looked like. Now it's "cheeky" from when he had chubby cheeks when he was two. The cheeks have long since disappeared, but the name stays in many of it's forms. Cheeky, cheeky monkey, cheekasaurus, etc. You know the drill.

We call our son Brodiferous Christopherous. (I can't even spell it.) But he responds.

Our daughter's nickname hasn't quite emerged yet. My son and husband call her "sweet girl". Hmm, I'll have to put more thought into this one. I loved the post. An insight into someone's life is always so fun!

Our nickname while our daughter was still in utero was Peanut, for the obvious reason that it is exactly what she looked like.

Since then the name has evolved. Silly Monkey is always popular, or Boo-Boo. But recently she has been Turkey, or Turkey-Bird most of the time. Where it comes from? No idea really... Mostly because she can be such a turkey when she's not getting her own way. :) You get some funny looks in public though...

O has been called LaLa ever since Boo could talk. And Boo has been Boo pretty much since birth. She's also called Issy-boo because that's what she used to call herself. She's also often and frequently called Monkeybutt.

The Bug is not called The Bug and never really has been, except for on my blog. We were calling her Pumpkin Pie, but Boo couldn't say that, so she just called her PiePie. That somehow turned into Muffinhead and that seems to have stuck. And now, every morning, Boo comes bursting into the room and yells "G'mornin', Muffinhead!" It is too cute.

Budge is a perfect nickname! My kiddo's nickname is Shmoo. I don't know how it came to be, but we use it, ironically, in a similar manner that you do with Budge. For example, "Shmoo was such a Shmooper today!"

Big girl is called Baa - a recent thing because the toddlers can't say her name, the smaller one is really called Jboo, oober baby, or snazzy. The incoming invader has been called, parasite, jelly bean and peanut so far but none of those will stick.

These are just great!My 2 yr old daughter Eliana has been called Ellie by EVERYONE (including me) since birth. My personal nicknames for her are Bugaboo if she's being a real butt or just plain ole "boo" if she's being cute. If I want a giggle I'll call her my shnugglepuffs. She likes it now...just wait!My 4 year old Gavin has had a gizillion knicknames over the years and none have stuck other than "my little guy" which is so...boring..and yet, he IS my little guy! It just fits!

There was a time when we called Q by the name "Darth Baby" because he was such a noisy breather when sleeping. No complaints from us - it was easy to check whether he was sleeping without having to get out of bed.

My son is "love bug" to me. He's so cute because he'll say "I'm not Maffew - I'm your love bug".And, then the other day he said "I know you love me cause I'm your love bug."Toooo adorable.I love the new design.PS Budge is very cute.

Kaitlyn's nickname is "The Boo". The boys gave her that nickname when she was just a newborn, because they thought she was so cute and they always said to her "what a cute baby boo you are". So now I say thing to them like "where's The Boo?" or "Would one of you take "The Boo" on a walk?" And I have used it at their school, on playgrounds, everywhere.

OH, and my husband and I call her "KatieBug". It started because she had this adorable ladybug onesie as a baby, and I called it her KatieBug LadyBug outfit. The nickname stuck, and sometimes I call her the whole name, KatieBug LadyBug. I need to start collecting ladybug stuff for her!

They both have shorten versions of their own name. Then the Tar nicknames from the Hubs. But their nonsensical nicknames are respectively: Monkey (Monk, Monkster, MonkeyMan, ect) and Princess Pie (Pie-Pie, PieFace, ect). No clue how it started. Also, sometimes they are called Squirt and Squirtle.

Apparently we are late to the "Boo" party. My 13 month old has been "Boo" or "Booboo" for at least half her life. Unfortunately, a new friend of mine has a poop-eating chihuahua named Booboo. We may have to find a new nickname....

Miss M quite literally has over 100 nicknames. We are a nickname household. She has so many nicknames that she has now started insisting on making up her own pseudonyms. Right now we MUST call her Jenny. Last week it was Jesse Jeerial. There's been about 10 pseudonyms in all. I've been meaning to write a post about this but I've now said it in enough comments that the post is moot.

Former co-worker who is Irish used expression "tickety boo", which stuck in my head. I also used to like to sing the following to our cats: "(S)he's the kitty witty doodle pie from Company C", appropriate because both cats had names that began with the letter C.

Achingly well-writting, HBM. For now, we put all of our nicknaming onto our cat of 13 years, whose OFFICIAL name is Ramona Q. Somehow, the simple "kitten" nickname became "kitchen," which then morphed into "chicken." Yeah, that's right: we call our cat "chicken," as in: "You should see what the chicken did to the bathroom rug!" or, "She's being SOOO chicken today!"

When our daughter, Roslyn, shows up in 5 weeks or so, I have every expectation that such name-morphing will continue, resulting in "Rozzle" which of COURSE could become "Rozzle-Dozzle," or even, heaven help us, "The Rozinator."

I call my daughter "mommy", it is an old ethnic thing around my parts. Dads call their babies "daddy", grandmoms call them "grandmom" etc. So, she is "mommy". But, at times she is also "sydney". That was my father's catch-all name for anyone he needed to get the attention of and couldn't get the right now out (two daughter, four grand daughters - he mixed them up a lot). So, my entire family has adopted "Sydney" as the name to call each other on a whim.

It confuses people all the time. Too funny. Budge is a great nickname, especially for such a great little girl! The photo is classic!

My daughter is Boo on the blog (it's even in the title) but I have never, not once, ever called her Boo. My sister in law does at time, but I never have.

I have avoided a blog name for Baby K, but I do call him bugaboo (as in the stroller, but with no actual resoning or relation to) or bubbaloo. It just stuck and I love it. Funny how the nickname is actually longer than the real name :)

i love your new page HBM.its great.my children have all had silly or cute nicknames at various times.some of my faves.tokapee thats right from pokemon.was the changelings nickname whilst preggers with her.and stinkerbell was called peep.my eldest girl was just called baby for like forever.and my son was boo boo bear,bunnykins etc.budge is sorta cute and i bet it suits wonderbaby wonderfully.LAVENDULA

We've actually morphed through a few along the way. She started out bunny baby. And went through many of the usual, most of which are still used on occasion: Sweet Pea, pumpkin, muffin. And we use goofer, goofer girl, little lady, and oddest, kooker monker, a warping of kooky monkey.

I am so not good with nicknames, so my blog-kids don't even have pseudonyms yet. I think it stems from my nickname. I was a bit clueless as a child and assumed that "Nikki" was a "nick-name" as it had "Nik" in it. Yes, I'm still that clueless sometimes.

My kids have several from dad: Oh my god you're cute, and Oh my god you're cute II alsong with Pulga and Hombre Fuerte (Flea and strong man in reference to their sizes)

OldestGirl is "The Bug"CurlyGirl is "The Bear"YoungestGirl is "The Roo"BoyBoy has a number of nicknames, but no real "thing" like the others. We use the diminuative of his name a lot, since his "big name" is quite a handle to hang on someone who is only 3.

william is cookie,or baby, it started as a nickname for my nephew who is six months younger-until i watched them together one day, now i call will cookie about a million times a day, and my nephew cookie when i see him...

my nephew is cookie because he was on special formula due to his cf that smelled like a chocolate chip cookie. his older sister i have called girly from day one, no idea why, she is just so girly..

Moppet has quite a few nicknames. I mostly call her a version of 'little one' in my mother tongue, and my husband has a different nickname for her. But she responds to everything - even when I call her 'rice pudding'! :-)

Hmmm...nicknames, eh? Depends on the day. Seriously, that is how often I am concocting new ones. The most regular is Bubby, which evolves into Bubalicious and then Bugsy or Bug. But never Bode. You know. His actual name... :-)

My little girl is "Bug" or "Sweet Pea" or "Shatz-em-platz." Her daddy is "Bear", "Sweet Potato" or "Daddy-o". I don't have any nicknames....as far as I know. Sometimes, my husband calls me Mommy Awesome, but that doesn't really roll off the tongue the way a nickname should, does it? HeatherFeather, that's another one that gets used every now and then. I want a nickname. (pout)

Years ago I babysat for a little boy whose nickname was Budgie (his real name was Solomon, so serious for a charming little preschooler). His baby sister was Pipsy.

We do call our Opie just that; his real initials are O.P. so there you go. Also bugaboo, bug, crankypants, stinky dinky doo, messy marvin...whatever fits.

Jo is Jojo, Jo-G, Jojo Pumpkin, or the old classic, Honey. And her "regular" name -- the one that everyone calls her -- is itself a nickname. We chose that first then worked backward to give her a formal first name. "For when she's president of General Motors," said my mother.

Our daughter is 3 1/2 -- she has been sweet pea, pea diddley, pickle pea, and almost any other variation on pea something or something pea you can think of. We've also been known to call her pumpkin poo, which I swear has no potty reference at all. I'm sure she'll hate that one most of all later on.

Our son is currently beebo (because he walked around saying that for a few days, and it stuck), but also bubby, bubby boo, beebo boo, and, again, almost any variation on something with boo.

At least we stick to a theme for each of them -- I'd hate for them to be too confused.

Poopsie-Doo was my childhood nickname and my father still calls me "Poops" and never calls me by my first name. Every card, email, phone conversation, etc. starts with "Dear Poops" or "Hi Poops". I hated it in high school, but being pregnant with my first child now, I love it. We've been calling our unborn baby girl "Uncle Ben", because the ultrasound tech told us she was the size of a piece of rice at our first ultrasound. Wonder if that will stick.

My kids have had various nicknames during their lifetime but the ones that have stuck are: (oldest son)Bub, (middle son) Roundhead (cause he had a perfectly round head at birth)and occasionally we called him TataHead (short for Potato Head), youngest sons we called Webster (as in Dictionary) because he was like a walking encyclopedia for sports trivia. My daughter is the one who has had oodles of nicknames:Mrs. Peepers (because as a newborn she was always peeping around with one eye opened) Tilda (short for Matilda)Freda, Ducky, and the Corkster.

My granddaughter is known as the Peach or Peachie. She was such a good baby and I was always saying she was such a Peach. So that stuck and we all call her Peach now.

My girl has so many nicknames! Her name starts with a B and has no definite nickname deriving from it, logically. BUT her middle name is Addison, and I've always called her AddyBuglet. It's sometimes, AddyBugs, Addy, Bug, Addy Brown, Baby Girl, Muffin, Little B, Miss B, Munchkie, Pumpkie, and Freckles. Her Daddy calls her Addy, B and Tootie. He used to call her Little Chicken. when I was pregnant and she was at the rice grain stage, we called her Colonel (a military style version of "kernel" which they said she was the size of). My bf calls her Little B and I love how he says it. He also refers to both of our kids as "pampers". As in, "gotta love our pampers".bsmommy99.wordpress.com

My oldest, 6 year old boy, is Bug. It started when I would call him Love-Bug, and it eventually shortened to just Bug. The other day I called him that in front of his friends, by accident of course, and boy did I get "THE LOOK." Guess I'll work on that.And my 2-year0 old's daughter real name is Nia which has turned into Nini or Nini-nunu...kind of strange that a kid with a three letter name would need nicknames at all! Oh, well!Love everyone's name comments, though!

No nicknames for as-yet-unemergent little one, except for the wee one, or the wee dragon, on my blog, for fear that if I assign him a nickname I might let it slip in conversation, and if it happens to sound boyish, they might guess that he is in fact, a boy. As for my brothers, I call them:

Matt (oldest): Midget, as he was always very short until he hit about 15Sam: Monkey, or Spazhead, or Samsam.Alex: Benjo. Don't ask me why. It doesn't make any sense, especially since Sam's middle name is Benjamin, and you'd think he'd be assigned Benjo. But somehow, it just fits alex.

And I call my former best friend's daughter Buffin, a conflagration of Baby Muffin.

As for me, I have been alternately Tanie, Peaches, Bubbles, and Klondike. yeah, wierd, I know.

i have no idea where i came up with pooka for daughter #1, but it gets morphed into pooks or pooka-dook. bug has been bug ever since we decided on her name, as it comes from a misreading of the name written in cursive. bug lends itself to a host of sickeningly cute things, like stinkbug (obvious), lightning bug (in the bili-blanket), etc. pooka has in the past declared her real name to be pooka. bug isn't old enough to have a preference.

I think ours is probably more cultural (Mexican) than nonsensical, but from the beginning we called Alliclaus "Mamas." In the beginning we called her "Little Miss" or "the little miss," and I have sometimes referred to her as "Missy Mae." But "Mamas" is the name that has stuck and it is the one she knows is hers.

My son, Owen, is sometimes called "O-Dog" (or "O-Dawg"), his rapper name coined when he was just a baby. It still amuses me. We call our Lindsay "LuLu" - it started off as "Lindsay-Lou" and evolved. Funny, my adored grandfather was named Lou - should've changed her middle name to Louise. She was "Hani" for a while when she was wee little, as that was what her brother insisted her name was. (From hearing us call her "honey," maybe? Who knows.)

Stink...but, more like a little song: Stink-stink-da-dink-dink-dink. No clue why or how but, she loves it.

Also, Fatty Mcfatfat. This is because she is ginormous. She is 8 months old and weighs about 24 lbs. wears size 18 mos. clothes and size 5 diapers. Did you know they only go up to size 6? I guess we will start wrapping her in shower curtains if she doesn't stop the madness.